World Series Pre-Game 3 Stat Notes: One for Every Blue Jay in the Starting Lineup

After taking a travel day to reach SoCal, the Blue Jays are back tonight, and we're all itching for the game to start. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to make 8:00 pm come any sooner, but I can offer some postseason-related stat notes to tide you over until then.

Max Scherzer
The last time Scherzer faced one of his former teams in the World Series was in 2023. Pitching for the Rangers, he worked into the fourth inning of Game 3 against the Diamondbacks, giving up two hits and no runs. Due to back spasms, Scherzer exited early, but Texas would go on to win 3-1.

George Springer
Springer is the active leader in World Series home runs; his seven career long balls in the Fall Classic have him tied with Chase Utley for the most since Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson, hit 10 in his legendary career. Yet, Springer has never hit a home run in Game 3 of a World Series. He’s hit at least one in every other game from one to seven. Will this be the night that finally changes?

Nathan Lukes
Lukes is a huge reason why the Blue Jays have made it this far. He’s batting .318 with four walks, and he ranks second on the team in both WPA and RE24. In other words, he’s putting the ball in play and getting on base, often in pivotal moments. Yet, for all he’s done, he’s the only member of Toronto’s starting lineup (aside from Bo Bichette) who has not gone deep. Springer may be looking to make postseason home run history, but Lukes is just trying to get on the board.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Tyler Glasnow has only given up one regular season batted ball with an exit velocity above 115 mph in his career: a 117.6-mph double off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. last April. Guerrero is also responsible for the hardest-hit home run Glasnow has ever allowed in the regular season, a 113.9-mph blast in 2021. 

All in all, Vladdy has a .473 wOBA in 21 plate appearances against Glasnow in the regular season and the playoffs. No other hitter has reached base against the All-Star hurler more often. 

Bo Bichette
Another home run stat? Yeah, another home run stat. As of Saturday, Bichette has now played in twice as many playoff games as his father ever made it into. However, he’s still waiting to hit his first postseason home run. Bo has never been quite as much of a slugger as Dante was, but if the elder Bichette could hit his first (and only) career postseason homer off of 1995 Greg Maddux, then his son can take Glasnow yard tonight. 

Daulton Varsho
With 13 strikeouts in 54 PA (24.1%), Varsho is the only member of Toronto’s regular starting lineup with an above-average strikeout rate in October. Or, at least, he would be if the postseason strikeout rate weren’t two percentage points higher than the regular season strikeout rate. MLB hitters struck out 22.2% of the time in the regular season, compared to 24.2% of the time in October. 

Of course, Blue Jays fans have a good excuse for not realizing that the league-wide strikeout rate climbed in October: The Blue Jays have only struck out 15.1% of the time. That’s the lowest rate by any team to make it this far into the playoffs since the 2006 Cardinals. 

Alejandro Kirk
Pat Borders wasn’t known for his bat, but the catcher went off in the 1992 playoffs, batting .381 with a .999 OPS and a 169 wRC+ in 12 games. Kirk isn’t performing at quite that level, but he’s racking up the counting stats, with four home runs, 10 runs, and 10 RBI. With a few more strong games, he could finish these playoffs as the best-performing catcher in Blue Jays playoff history. Not a bad way to head into the first season of his five-year contract extension in 2026, by the end of which, he could very well be the greatest catcher in team history.

Addison Barger
Three players in this World Series hit a ball harder than 115 mph during the regular season: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani, and Addison Barger. 

Barger has hit his fair share of hard-hit balls this October, but he’s yet to truly smoke one like we know he’s capable of. Glasnow isn’t exactly known for limiting hard contact, so maybe tonight is the night we see a true Barger blast.

Ernie Clement
In 1995, Marquis Grissom of the Braves set a record with 25 hits in a single postseason. He has since been surpassed by Pablo Sandoval in 2014 (26 hits) and Randy Arozarena in 2020 (29 hits), but he remains the record holder for players in their first postseason.

Through 13 games in the 2025 playoffs, Clement has 21 hits in 49 at-bats (.429). With at least three games left to play, he needs five hits to usurp Grissom. Five hits in three games is no easy task, but Clement can get there if he continues at his current pace – and it will certainly help if the series goes six or seven games.

Andrés Giménez
Aside from Springer, no one on the Blue Jays has played more postseason games than Giménez. Unfortunately, Giménez also has the worst postseason WPA among current Blue Jays hitters, thanks to a career 63 wRC+ in the playoffs. On the bright side, he’s doing everything he can to change his own October narrative. Of the 30 postseason games he’s played in his career, the three best by WPA were all this year (ALDS G4, ALCS G4, ALCS G3). With one more performance of that caliber, he can finally bring his career postseason WPA out of the negatives.